SW 569 Community Social Work

Elizabeth Bowen

As agents of change it is crucial that social workers are able to enter a community or organization and identify how individual actors both influence and are influenced by the environment in which they operate in order to sustain a desired change. This course examines the theories, research and interventions that social workers utilize in community practice. Community practitioners define the scope of their practice in the context of social justice within organizations, neighborhoods and communities applying social values and the concepts of welfare economics in the selection of culturally sensitive strategies and appropriate interventions. Utilizing a trauma informed and human rights perspective they seek to improve the lives of people through purposeful change in their communities. The context of their practice includes but is not limited to housing, safety, environment (e.g., water, sewage and air), education and employment.